


Always on duty

by ZeldaElmo



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: #thirsty-and-in-denial-Zelda, F/M, Memory 3, Pining Zelda, Resolved Romantic Tension, Resolved Sexual Tension too - kind of, Tabantha shrine, zelink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaElmo/pseuds/ZeldaElmo
Summary: This piece is part of the #thirsty-and-in-denial-zelda prompt, which intangibly_yours started on tumblr.Zelda founds herself distracted from her studies. Why does her appointed knight have to be so attractive? There's only one way to solve this problem!I couldn't resist the second chapter, you know I'm a sucker for zelink, especially botw."Her index finger slid over the neat lines, most of them marked with the little symbols of the code, she had developed to organize her timetable, when she was fourteen. A crown – for meetings with her father, a little book – a reminder for her study time with Impa, a sun – a symbol she would love to use more often, as it was for Urbosa, a much-treasured doodle of an ancient core – a hint at her meetings with Purah and Robbie and then, of course, that damned sword – not a symbol, more a herald of the constant presence of her appointed knight. There was nearly no day without his icon and she wondered not for the first time, if the terms of being an appointed knight were so inhuman, that he rarely got a day off, or if he was stubborn enough to refuse them out of his over-motivated sense of duty."
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

Zelda rummaged through her paperwork in her study, looking for the papers and datas, she needed for her work with the shrines, when her calendar caught her eye. Cautiously, she piled the documents, she had already recognized as relevant, on her chair. She really needed to tidy up here, there was not a single spare inch on her desk left, but that was a task for a rainy winter day. For now, she had to examine, what about the calendar put her on edge. Lifting the half-finished drawing of a blue nightshade, she tugged at the edge of the little booklet.

Her index finger slid over the neat lines, most of them marked with the little symbols of the code, she had developed to organize her timetable, when she was fourteen. A crown – for meetings with her father, a little book – a reminder for her study time with Impa, a sun – a symbol she would love to use more often, as it was for Urbosa, a much-treasured doodle of an ancient core – a hint at her meetings with Purah and Robbie and then, of course, that damned sword – not a symbol, more a herald of the constant presence of her appointed knight. There was nearly no day without his icon and she wondered not for the first time, if the terms of being an appointed knight were so inhuman, that he rarely got a day off, or if he was stubborn enough to refuse them out of his over-motivated sense of duty. Looking back at the pages of the calendar, she noticed the little droplets, she had drawn at several days at the beginning of the month. Ah, perhaps her mind tried to tell her, that she needed her stuff for her monthlies, but, no, that was just two weeks ago, and that meant... oh.

Oh, no. She – they would go on a trip to Tabantha to examine the ancient shrine, which had been discovered a few weeks ago, and she would be _ovulating_. Her appointed knight wouldn’t only be watching her prayers from afar like he did in the castle, no, she would be with him the whole day, always in arm's length – and she would be _ovulating_. That can’t be true. How was she supposed to concentrate on her studies, when he was breathing at her neck constantly? He wouldn’t literally, of course, he always stayed politely three steps behind her, but that didn’t hinder her _feeling_ his breath tingling on her skin. Especially on those days. It was hard enough to push the physical attraction back to the corner of her mind on normal days, but when she was at that point of her cycle, her body was nearly acting on his own accord.

Last month, she was lucky enough to avoid him most of the time. But then, there had been a tumult in the hallway on her way to the library and before she had realized, what happened, she had dropped the pile of books on the floor and from seemingly nowhere, Link had appeared and pulled her in a hidden alcove. A very small hidden alcove to her dismay. Link had been half towering over her – to shield her presumably – but he had been so, so close that she had been able to smell the metallic aroma of the sword, the leather of his gauntlets and this unique scent, which belonged to him and which made her inhale deeply at the memory alone. The whole incident had only lasted several minutes – the tumult had been caused by a confused archivist, who had chosen the wrong door with his book cart and the whole cart had tumbled down a flight of stairs in progress – but the memory of these minutes had haunted her for days. Link, in his Sheikah Armor, which left nothing, _nothing_ for her imagination, muscles twitching under the thin fabric; Link bent over her, his hot breath over her face; Link’s body heat mingling with her steady increasing own warmth.

She never knew, if he was on her roof at night, hidden in the shadows in said Shiekah Armor, guarding her without the slightest noise. That way, she was unable to release herself with her own fingers, was left picturing how he would push her against the cold wall of the nook with his body weight alone, leaving his hands free to pin her own hands above her head, brushing all the way down from her trapped wrists to her side with the backside of his leather-gloved hand. Was left imagining, how he would lean in, her hands still trapped, to give her the barest hint of a kiss, lips hardly brushing, nothing to help her release her desire, just a feather light touch to tease her further, before he would bend down and suck _hard_ at the skin just above her pulse point to mark her as his – his alone.

Of course, he had done nothing of all these things. After the noises had died down, he had carefully looked around the corner, the tension leaving his body slowly, as he discovered the crashed cart. After turning around to her, he had gestured at her dropped books before picking them up. Thrusting the pile of books in her hand again, he even had the nerves to point out, that she had to be more careful next time, as the dropped books could give an assassin a hint where she was hiding. Afterwards, he had helped the poor archivist to tidy up the mess, because he could never resist helping the one’s in need. Her needs as a woman excluded, of course. Unlike her, he seemed completely unmoved of their sudden nearness, as usually. Duty first and foremost.

And now, she would be stuck with him for two days at the peak of her cycle-caused arousal. He would be shackled to her side from dusk till dawn – no, perhaps better not thinking about her appointed knight in bonds at all. In any case, she would get nothing done with him at her side. She would constantly try to avoid his closeness to keep her imagination at bay and it wouldn’t work at all. His blue eyes would always follow her, searching for a threat, but she would imagine, they were looking around that nobody would catch them. Catch them, when he would pull her close, one arm around her waist, firm and safe, the other buried in her hair, right above her nape, pulling her closer, closer, until their bodies would be pressed flush against each other, his leg between hers. Then, he would take one last look around to be sure and he would finally press his lips against hers, making her feel dizzy and wanted and hot all at once. Really, it could be so easy for them to begin a heated affair, just a stolen hour in the wild before they had to return to the castle, a single day behind their travelling schedule nobody would question, a rushed, hungry kiss in an alcove in a less frequented hallway of the castle. Link could be so incredible stealthy, he could even slip into her bedchamber at night, when they grew very bold.

But, of course, her appointed knight would never do something like that. He was reckless enough to fight against a bunch of lynels, but when it came to his princess, he was the epitome of duty. He would never touch her, if not for the matter of safety and she couldn’t recall anymore, how often she had cursed him for his sense of responsibility, which seemed to overshadow everything else.

Everybody around her was sure, she despised him, because he was the Chosen One, because he had easily fulfilled his fate and she was still looking for a way to find her sacred powers. That was not wrong – their different success rate _was_ bothering her – but it was only part of the truth. The other part was, that her body betrayed her – she felt a little shock tingling between them, when he took her hand to help her from her horse, she shivered in anticipation, when he came close in case of danger and heat began to pool between her legs, when he scanned her from head to toe with these intense eyes to check her for injuries. As a matter of course, it was only and _solely_ physical attraction, which draw her to him. Her appointed knight was a handsome, well-build man, every red-blooded woman would admit, that he was attractive. It was an annoyance, but there was nothing more to it. She was the Princess of Hyrule, she would _surely_ not fall for her own knight attendant.

Naturally, he was completely unaware of her transformation – perhaps even of her as a woman and she hated him for his ignorance with every fiber of her being. How dared he to stay cool around her, while she was hot and flustered when he made each of his training movements with strength and elegance? She knew that she was attractive as well, she had double checked the flattery of the nobles by sneaking out of the castle in disguise and had got several compliments even in her plain cotton dress – no assumption without control group after all. Link, however, was unimpressed. Nothing, not even a glance at the cleavage of the Princess of Hyrule, could get between him and his duty. He was perfect, always perfect, while she was just a failure. Why certainly, it had to be her, who was attracted to him and not the other way round! Just another failure to add to her list.

She knew that her reasons to hate him were at least a bit contradictory, her academic mind tried constantly to force her to sort her feelings out, but she shoved the impulse back every single time. Hating him was easy, she could cover all the other emotions whirling through her heart, her body and her mind under the hate, as inconsistent it might be. She didn’t dare to take a closer look, in case she would discover something else, something even worse than a little physical attraction which was easily scientifically explainable.

Throwing the calendar back on her desk with too much force, a plan began to form in her head. This time, she wouldn’t let him distract her. The newly discovered shrine was important, she needed her whole attention to investigate it. Perhaps this one would be the one who activated all the others, the missing piece Purah and she were looking for for months now. No, she smiled devilishly, she would go without him. She would set him on the wrong track and then she would disappear before the morning sun peeked over the horizon. It would take him hours to discover that she was missing, time she could use for her research without distraction.

For now, she needed to figure out her plan to the last detail. Link was smart, she wouldn’t fool him easily. It wouldn’t be the first time, she gave him the slip, so he was probably on alert. She needed someone to prepare her horse who didn’t tattle, a difficult task, because her knight was a well-known horse whisperer among the stable hands. How could somebody be so annoyingly perfect?

Bewildered, she looked around her; her legs had found the way to her favorite thinking place on their own accord: she was in the hallway near the library. Her eyes flickered over to the hook and she forced the unbidden images back to the corner of her mind. The task at hand required her full strategic abilities – hopefully the poor archivist had a better day today.


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing less than a century passed, before Zelda found out, that Link had fought against his own demons at this time. The king and his own father had both hammered the fact into him, that he wasn’t even allowed to think about her that way, and he hadn’t dared to step one step beside the line, afraid of the severe punishment that lurked over him. 

At first, he told her, it had been relatively easy to follow through. As long she hated him, he could ignore the spark of desire, he had detected in her green eyes. Hate was safe – he could push the thoughts, how her travelling gear accented her backside, how it would feel to slide his hands over her thigh at said backside, while she was straddling his lap, how she would bite his bottom lip, when he would squeeze her a little, well, he could push them into those rare nights he was actually sleeping – or not sleeping – in his room. 

But when they were on better terms, he had struggled to desperately try to ignore the way her wet, half transparent prayer gown clanged against her forms, revealing enough somehow, but still leaving just the right amount to his imagination, when she left the springs. He admitted, how he had hoped that she would never come too close, because he feared that he would lose the last of his self-restraint and would end up kissing her against a tree, while she messed up his ponytail and grabbed the collar of his champions tunic to pull him even closer. How he would have loved to kiss her desperation away after every failed prayer, until her lips would have been swollen and her skin flushed and she would have forgotten this cursed power, if only for a moment. 

Zelda pondered often over the many wrong decisions, which had been made. She had been a fool to believe, that it was physical attraction alone, that pulled her towards Link and she didn’t realize the truth until the very last moment. Could they have saved thousands of lives, when they had both given in their affection? The missing piece to awaken her power had been love, not devotion. Love was it, what had lacked in her life. Not necessarily the kind of love, only lovers share, no, the silent, reassuring love. The mutual feeling of being accepted unconditionally, the unwavering trust in each other and the reciprocal support, when the other was unable to go on. By now, she was sure, that her parents could have given it to her, too, the other princesses had partly been too young for romantical love and had have access to their power nonetheless. But her mother died too early and her father had no clue, what to do, so he pushed her into prayer after prayer instead of embracing her character like every parent should do – like Link had done. 

But, what if they had given in? Perhaps she would have awoken her power in time and perhaps they could have saved the kingdom. Their love would have been a marginalia in the history books, ended abruptly with the defeat of Ganon. Her father would have arranged a political marriage for her and Link would have become Captain of the royal guard as a reward for his deeds, forced to watch her with another from afar. Nonetheless, they both would have chosen duty over love, as so many princesses and heroes before them. 

It was a selfish thought, but despite the many mistakes and failures, she couldn’t shake the feeling, that they had earned a second chance. Link had given nothing less than his life to defend his kingdom and she, she had fought an endless long century for her country. Here, in this life, where the greatest threat were Impa’s raised eyebrows towards their interlaced hands, they could finally celebrate the love, which saved Hyrule. 

Nobody asked a question, when she moved in Link’s house. In her old life, a simple sleepover in his house would have caused an uproar, the unmarried princess sharing a room, possibly even a bed, with her appointed knight, what a scandal! In her new life, most of the people didn’t know at all what an appointed knight was and the few gossipers had another topic as their marriage status after a few days. 

So, there was no need for her, to pull Link around a corner of a house in Hateno, if she wanted to give him a hungry kiss, a promise for later, the prospect of more, but she did it nonetheless. There were no guards, no nobles, no maids, who could see them, but Link would wear his Shiekah Armor anyway for her, when he came back from one of his errands, never failing to send a shockwave of arousal and affection through her in anticipation, when she heard him slip through the window of their bedroom instead of using the door, just like she wanted him to do all these years ago in her tower. 

It was absolutely unnecessary, but it was their own, special way to remember a long fallen kingdom.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm not a native speaker, if you stumble over an abuse of the english language, write me, please!


End file.
